Page 59 of Framed and Forgotten
“I don’t know what the hell you two want, and I don’t care,” I started, shaking with anger. It took all of my strength to keep my wolf at bay when all he wanted was to destroy everyone in our path. “You better stay the fuck away from my mate.”
Kael scoffed. “Still playing hero for that little omega?” His smile twisted. “Except she’s not just any omega, is she? She’s a fucking Ashen Wolf,” he announced, and my jaw clenched. “That’s rich. You really know how to pick your poison, brother.”
A loud growl rumbled in my chest. I was done listening, and Col had run out of patience. He crawled to the surface and stole control, lunging at our brother without hesitation. Kael’s eyes lit up with a sinister thrill as he shifted mid-strike, rolling to the side to evade Col. My beast honed his claws, muscles tightening with brutal purpose. I could read his intent as if it were my own.
“Don’t!”I warned through gritted teeth, clinging to a thin thread of rationality.“We can’t go all out. It’s bad enough they know about Avril. We can’t risk them learning what we’ve become.”
“What’s it matter if we’re killing them both anyway?”Col snarled, but his posture soon shifted as his ears twitched, catching a sound beneath the clash of our confrontation.
Nerine was speaking into a phone, frantic and desperate. I couldn’t catch everything, but one thing definitely stood out:Ashen Wolf. Even if we silenced her now, the damage was done. The secret had already spread past these two. We couldn’t afford to offer the world any more information on our kind.
Col growled, frustrated but resigned. Using our abilities would allow us to get this over with faster, which meant rescuing Avril and leading her away from danger. Still, he wasn’t exactlyopposed to the idea of punishing the one who’d harmed our mate using only a fraction of our true power.
“Easy there, brother,”a voice echoed inside my head, startling me.
It was like my own conscience, but not quite. I only grasped it when I stared back at the white wolf in front of me, a mirror of Col. Of course, it was Kael, reaching into my mind through mindlink. Even if I’d never known about his existence, we shared the same blood - and thus, a family bond.
“Sit back and relax a little, won’t you?”Kael went on, the simple sound of his voice making me itch.“I’ve waited my whole life for this moment. I even have a speech planned! Now, be a good brother and-”
Col didn’t let him finish. With a feral roar, he leapt forward, claws outstretched and ready to strike. As he slammed into Kael like a ram, the impact sent both wolves tumbling through the dirt in a tangle of limbs and fury, snarling and snapping.
We tried to land a bite to his throat, but Kael twisted away, just out of reach. Using our momentum, he shoved us off with a growl, and we skidded back, dust rising between us as both wolves squared off again. The distance between only sharpened the thickening tension.
“Always the killjoy,”Kael spat, pacing to the side. There was a flicker of irritation beneath his mockery.“You’re no fun, are you?”
“Are you here to talk or to fight?”I finally replied, coolly.
“Both,”he replied, far too casual for the blood in his eyes.“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, don’t we? I thought you’d have questions. Don’t you want answers?”
Col’s ears flicked, but his gaze stayed sharp, never leaving Kael.“Alright,”I agreed at last, my voice low, methodical.“Shoot.”
A spark of triumph lit Kael’s eyes. I hated it - hated that he got what he wanted from me. As he stepped into a slow circle, Col matched him step for step, the two wolves locked in a dance of predators.
“Thank you,”Kael barked mockingly.“See? Youcanbe polite. So, as a token of my appreciation, here’s one truth: you’re right. Elias isn’t your son.”
Col faltered, but he covered it quickly. I’d suspected for some time. That didn’t mean hearing it didn’t hurt. As brief and complicated as my fatherhood had been, I had nurtured feelings for Nerine’s pup.
“He’s mine,”Kael went on, oblivious to the emotions I’d managed to mask.“And no, you and Nerine never actually did anything. Not even with the drugs in your system. You couldn’t stomach her, even at your weakest. Pathetic, huh?”He laughed.“I get it, though. Between us, psychotic obsessed Barbies? Not exactly my thing either.”
“Still, you laid with her until you got her pregnant,”I snapped.
“I wouldn’t have had to if you’d done your part. But no, you had to leave the real work to me.”His voice was dripping with venom now.“Elias was necessary. He was the bait. The hook to reel you back to her.”
“If that’s the case,”I asked tightly,“why hide his existence from me for so long?”
“To make it believable,”he said simply, like it was obvious.“Would you have bought the story if she’d shown up with a baby bump? No, we needed the whole crazy-ex-wife-turned-saint arc to sell the lie.”
I exhaled harshly, shaking my head.“That’s a hell of a long con.”
“Unlike you, I’m patient,”he boasted.“We were going to wait even longer, but then we heard about you marking thatomega. That changed everything. The longer you bonded with her, the less effective the love potions would’ve been. We had to move quickly. Thankfully, I’m good at adapting.”
“So all of this…”I scoffed.“Was to help Nerine achieve her twisted fantasy of ending up with me?”
Kael broke into a fit of laughter.“You think this was forher? Oh no, brother. Nerine was just one of my many pawns. A means to an end.”
“My plans go far deeper than that,”he said, his voice darkening.“My revenge started years ago, when I came of age and learned who I really was. The first thing I did was hunt down our father.”He paused, just for a moment before delivering another revelation,“And I killed him.”
My breath caught. I couldn’t say I mourned my old man - he was a cruel bastard who deserved everything he got. Still, after years spent wondering which of his enemies had finally taken him down, I never imagined it could’ve been his own son.
